Ip Man: Kung Fu Master is the latest entry in a number of various series chronicling the life of Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man. This might also be the weakest of depictions full of sloppy choreography, unnecessary wire work, and a fragmented story that should have been Ramen-noodle-simple but was instead as complex as fugu preparation. Dennis To plays the role with charisma and honor, which is unfortunately wasted on this Saturday afternoon Kung Fu Theater special.
Set during his time as a police captain, Ip Man is on the path to become a full-on Wing Chun master. He becomes involved with a hostile Japanese agent who is seeking to pave a way for the oncoming invasion. Torn between his duties as a police officer and his responsibilities as a martial artist committed to the Foshan community, Ip fights a wronged clan, and eventually the Japanese themselves.
The plot cannot decide what it wants to be: a historical action piece or a silly crime drama. Characters are introduced, and then rudely dropped, without reason or development. Even the time period is largely obscure; timelessly in limbo somewhere between the 1930s and Morpheus' Matrix. Kung Fu Master is as haphazard as the drunken boxing style with considerably less grace.
Dennis To is a great martial arts action star. He moves with precision, fights with a smile, and has range enough to show loving care for his burgeoning family. As Ip Man, To brings honor to the role but the storytelling certainly does not give much to play with. Is he a master? A student? Police? A masked man? There is no cause, only action as a form of reaction, which certainly does not make a compelling narrative.
Ip Man: Kung Fu Master plays out in a series of barely-connected events and bland kung fu battles. Dennis To seems to work best in those intimate moments of combat when his feet and hands clap with power. However, he is all too mute when being forced to encapsulate Liming Li's vision of Ip as a rallying cry for Chinese unification.
